Tate George blames others for fraud charges

FILE - This Aug. 8, 2008, file photo shows former NBA and University of Connecticut player Tate George during the Jim Calhoun Celebrity Classic basketball game at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. George surrendered Friday, Sept. 23, 2011, to face charges stemming from what federal prosecutors say was a Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors say George used The George Group to run the more than $2 million investment fraud scam. (AP Photo/Fred Beckham, File)

TRENTON, N.J. >> Tate George repeatedly said he didn’t have documents to support his arguments or blamed others for getting him arrested on charges he ran a $2-million real estate scam centered on public housing projects.

George, testifying for a second day in federal court on Thursday, said records taken from his office by former partners, documents still with his old lawyer and key business papers seized by federal agents might prove his innocence.

“But I don’t have the supportive documentation,” the former UConn basketball great said repeatedly in testifying that the paperwork would show he did not rip off two pro ball players and an East Orange planning official for more than $500,000 in 2007 and 2008.

He calmly said no when the prosecutor, Assistant U. S. Attorney Joseph Shumofky, asked if he really hadn’t lied to investors and forged documents showing financial backers like pro players Charlie Villanueva and Brevin Knight had given him permission use their money any way he wanted.

Through the day of testimony, Shumofsky repeatedly got George to say Villanueva and Knight and three others who testified to getting ripped off were “mistaken’’ to accuse him of taking their money.

He blamed a secretary for sending a letter about changes in their agreement on how the money would be used to Villanueva to Rochester, Minn., not his home in Rochester, Mich.

George blamed friend Matt Nassif for taking important documents that might clear him when he and Marques Bragg, another former pro baller, left his firm to start their own company in 2008. He also accused Bragg of making his problems worse by “not doing his job,’’ particularly by not delivering some key papers to investors who had signed on for specific projects, not to fund George’s personal life.

George also said lender Randal Pinkett, the Rhodes Scholar who gave him $100,000, and an East Orange planner and law student who gave him $46,000, both rejected settlement deals and sued him instead.

The suspect was on the stand all day before U.S. Judge Mary L. Little and a jury panel of seven men and six women. He is expected to answer more questions from his defense lawyer, Public Defender David Schafer, on Friday, meaning the trial is likely to run into next week.